


Nosy Ex

by The_Muse



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-06-28 12:16:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19812127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Muse/pseuds/The_Muse
Summary: When Susan gives Neil the boot Billy finally feels like he can be himself thinking that finally he and Steve could take their thing to the next level. Everything should have worked out but with Nancy Wheeler, Steve’s ex girlfriend and ‘best friend’ giving her own opinions on their relationship its no wonder things go to shit. Heather has her own opinions (they’re idiots,) Steve is a wreck without him and Nancy...needs to really mind her own business.





	1. Chapter 1

Billy pulls into Heather’s driveway and leans on the horn with his elbow while ignoring the constant pinging from his cell. Harrington can get fucked if he thinks that Billy is going to cave and take his call and listen to his begging. It’s all bullshit. He thinks about their fight with Nancy Fucking Wheeler in the middle piping in to get her own opinions on their relationship edgewise before Johnathan Byer’s took her by the elbow and hauled her off with a whisper of this being none of her business.

At least, other than Heather, someone else doesn’t think that Billy’s the one to blame. It’s not like Billy is the one trying to hide his _what ever they are_ \- well not now at least. Since Susan booted his dad out of the house with the threat of calling the cops and to leave her, Max and Billy alone or else, Billy has been able to breathe and be himself. Thats what Susan had said after Neil had tossed his shit in the back seat of his shitty Bronco and had hauled ass out of their neighborhood, that Billy could be as much of himself as he liked.

‘Steve? He seems nice. You should bring him around for dinner sometime.’

Thats how the fight started. Billy had asked Steve to come to dinner was met with squirrelly Steve dodging Billy’s question all day until finally he told Billy that he didn’t think that it was a great idea ‘we haven’t been together long enough, right? Besides-Nancy says-’

Which had been the kiss of death.

Heather skips out of her front door, waves back at her parents who wave back sweetly, under the impression that this is a date and it makes Billy’s frown turn into a wolffish grin because Heather and Billy, maybe in some sort of alternate dimension where Steve and the girl from the video store don’t exist and Heather and Billy are straight it might have worked.

As it is...Heather’s the reason that Billy hasnt actually lit the Wheeler’s house on fire with his jealousy and the reason that Steve and Billy have been able to sneak around as much as they had been when Neil was still around. She was a great cover.

A cover that he might not need anymore. The status of his relationship seemed foggy, possibly non existent now that Billy had voiced his suspicions and his annoyances and was so blatantly jealous of Nancy Fucking Wheeler butting into her ex boyfriends bussiness saying things like Billy was pressuring Steve and that Billy was an asshole who was controlling and that he wasn’t being fair to Steve by being so in control of their relationship and _could anyone call it a relationship if it was only based on sex._

Sure, Billy might have been less hateful against the little bitch if she had just been a friend but she’d slept with Steve, she’d had this entire year of being with him.

“Hey,” Heather climbs into the car and slams the door shut, her bright eyes sparkling, her buck toothed grin wide. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going like shit.” Billy picks up his cell and shakes it in Heather’s direction. “How do I tell Harrington to go fuck himself but that it isn’t over?”

“By telling him that you need space and to stop calling you?” She shakes her head, buckling her seatbelt as Billy pulls out of the driveway and zooms dangerously down her street, throwing the phone down on her lap.

“Wouldn’t that make me sound like a bitch?”

“You are a bitch, Billy.” Heather plucks the phone and answers despite Billy’s curse. “Hey Steve it’s Heather...yeah...yeah he’s right here...Oh? No he doesn’t want to talk....Are you serious right now?...Why doesn’t he want to talk well I don’t know Steve maybe ask Nancy why he doesn’t want to talk...What do you mean you don’t need to ask Nancy anything as far as I know you’re good at letting her make all your decisions...Obviously I’m upset with you too...yeah...yeah he’s not really in a talking mood you just have to give it some time. I promise that he’ll call you when he’s ready...okay...okay...Bye Steve.”

Heather shuts off the phone and drops it into her bag with a sideways grin widening as Billy grinds his teeth too angry to speak. At a red light he punches her shoulder and in relatiation, when the light turns green she puts her finger in her mouth and then in his ear causing him to actually squeal and laugh.

It’s a win, Billy hasn’t laughed since the fight.

“You shouldn’t have picked up.”

“Why not, you weren’t going to.” Heather says. “He needed to hear something otherwise he was going to think you dumped him, run back to Wheeler and then start dating some Wheeler approved shriveled dicked preppy that you’d eventually murder and then drag me out in the middle of the night to help you bury.”

“Jesus I am not that dramatic.” Billy says. “And who says that I would call you?”

“Do you have any other friends Billy? I’m as good as it gets and I am the best person to call to bury a body, you know this.”


	2. Chapter 2

Heather had been one of those girls that Billy ignored when he transferred into Hawkins high not because she’d been one of the many giggly tittering cows that checked him out or twirled strands of hair as they spoke too closely to him but because, upon sight, she sneered at him. It might have been because she’d caught him with Becky Sawyer in the girls bathroom, his hands up the girls shirt as Becky sucked a mean hickey at the center of this throat, or it might have been because he’d winked at her, but after that whenever he saw Heather she would sneer and roll her eyes and Billy, at the time, was too busy trying to make his mark loud enough so his dad wouldn’t start thinking _things_ about Billy. Later, after they started working together at the pool and when she’d gotten to know him as more than that slutty pervert, he would mention it to her. Drunkenly of course, as he swayed poolside in the middle of the night.

’You’re trying to make your old man proud by banging the most girls in high school?’ Heather’s nose had twisted as she snagged a bottle of something he’d smuggled from his dad’s office. ‘Well you’ve succeeded. Your reputation proceeds you.’

’Yeah? Great,’ He’d wobbled a bit, knocking her shoulder. ‘maybe I can find a nice guy to sneak around with now.’

He hadn’t meant to say it, hadn’t meant to be found by her that night at the pool but he’s happy that it happened, in retrospect because Heather had stared at him wide eyed and actually laughed, throwing an arm around him tightly.

’You and I are a lot alike Billy Hargrove,’ She said between long pulls of liquor. ‘I date a lot too, you know, a lot of bone heads but the difference is that I don’t put out.’

’Whats wrong with putting out?’

’I got to have, like, a _connection_ for that. Plus...dicks are gross.’

’What? No they aren’t!’ Billy had nearly knocked her into the pool. ‘Dicks are great. What kind of a girl doesn’t like dick?’

’The kind of girl who likes vagina.’ 

Not being the only queer in high school (that he knew of) felt...liberating. Even back in California where it didn’t really matter, Billy had to put up appearances. He couldn’t date guys publicly, everything had to be in secret. He’d only had one boyfriend and Scott had ended up dumping Billy for being a massive closet case. Any friends of Billy’s had no idea and the type of people that he hung out with were the type his dad wouldn’t necessarily approve of but at least they weren’t gay and for some reason that counted for Neil.

But now, he thought, as he sat beside this ditzy, frizzy haired wild eyed brunette, he didn’t feel so lonely. 

‘More dick for me then, good to know.’

They’d been friends ever since.

He pulls into his driveway, Susan’s car is absent in the car port along with Max’s bike and as he cuts the engine he sighs and feels his bones get heavy because Steve’s car is in his car port and Steve is leaning against the trunk of his car with a bouquet of flowers and dressed to impressed like that’s supposed to make it all better. He sneaks a peek at Heather who is staring right back at Steve with a bit of a scowl. She grips Billy’s hand in her tightly.

”You want to see him?”

”I’m seeing him right now, babe.”

“Not like that, stupid.” She says. “Do you want to talk to him right now?”

”Not really.” Billy sort of lies. He wants to see Harrington, wants to snarl in his face, grab the front of his stupid sweater vest and yank him, wants to call him a spineless shit and send him packing back to Nancy Fucking Wheeler but at the same time he wants to yank him forward into a kiss and apologize even if he didn’t do anything wrong.

He’s so confused.

”Stay in the car.” Heather says climbing out, slamming the door before she marches towards Steve.

Billy watches as Steve goes pale white, staggering a bit as he stands straight and holds the bouquet like a shield as Heather starts talking. Billy can’t see her face, just the back of her frizzy head, but he can see her arms move in wild gestures, her stomp her foot as Steve starts and then suddenly stops talking and finally Heather grabbing the bouquet and poking Steve in the shoulder with a pointed nail.

Whatever it is she says makes Steve go away, his head down, eyes a little sad. He climbs into his dads BMW and pulls out of the carport with a defeated look on his face.

“My fucking Valkyrie...” Billy reaches into his pocket for his cigarettes. “Damn.” 


	3. Chapter 3

“You’re such a shit head.” Robin pushes past Steve into the house. She kicks off her sneakers and pauses at the landing of the stairs and stares back at Steve to follow her up, her face twisted in a bit of a scowl. 

He’s in trouble, Steve knows that much, and he follows her dumbly up the stairs already feeling in the pit of his stomach that he’s going to feel even worse once Robin’s got him cornered. It’s not like he can run out of his own house and leave her there, eventually he’d have to come back and knowing Robin she would wait for him, judging from past experiences.

Once they’re in his room and Robin is seated cross legged in the center of Steve’s bed he squares his shoulders waiting for the onslaught of insults. 

“You idiot.”

”I know.”

”You absolute moron. You total and complete-“

”Can you just tell me what I did so that I can fix it? I’m going through a lot right now.”

”Do you not know what I’m doing here right now?” Robin crosses her arms, glaring. “What do you think this is about?”

”I don’t know. You’re always mad about something stupid I did.”

It’s true, Steve usually gets up to dumb things that leaves Robin absolutely livid with him on a near weekly basis. There had been the time that he forgot to close up the store, the time he’d forgotten that he was supposed to cover her shift, the incident with the stall that they do not talk about and last week when he’d accidentally ruined Robin’s date with whats-her-face...

“Nancy Wheeler texted me today.” Robin pulls her cell out of her bra and scrolls through her texts with a lit to her lips. “She asked me about Jackson, you know, the dippy little shit I’m related to through my mother’s remarriage.”

”Oh?”

”Yeah,” She smiles up at him, meanly, “she wanted to know if he was single.”

”Did Nancy break up with Johnathan or something?”

”No, idiot, she was asking for you. Apparently ‘Steve’s so called relationship with Billy Hargrove is over, thank God. I think it’s time that he start seeing someone with a future and the ability to chew with his mouth closed.’” She drops her phone into her lap. “Did Nancy finally convince you to break up with Billy because she doesn’t like him?”

”We didn’t break up we’re fighting.” 

“Fighting? Last week you were looking at college brochures and planning to follow Billy wherever he decided to go to school and waxing poetically about matching mugs and lazy Sunday mornings steeped in domestic bliss. What. Did. You. Do?”

”Why do automatically assume I did something wrong?” Steve gets defensive but can’t seem to meet eyes with Robin. “Maybe he did something, you ever think of that?”

“I might have had Billy’s biggest _fan_ not texted me to ask about my preppy, annoyingly prissy step brother who happens to be a Nancy clone. So I ask again, what did you do?”

So he tells her about the fight, how Billy had invited Steve over for dinner with his family and how excited he’d been about making things official and how Steve had sort of...reacted poorly. I mean, a year and a half of pretending to just be friends and then jumping into publicly being a couple was a bit of a shock and of course the night before he’d been hanging out with Nancy and sort of had been complaining/crying/super drunk about Billy’s need for secrecy and how he’d come out to his parents a year ago about being bisexual for no point at all really because Billy wanted to keep them in the closet and maybe...maybe he’d been thinking about breaking it off. Maybe.

”And Nancy, as a straight girl with the worlds most perfect boyfriend put in her two cents about your relationship and told you, what, if Billy really cared about you then who cares about keeping his sexuality private, right? Did she say he was probably just using you until graduation? That you can do a whole lot better than some trailer park trash bully?” Robin tsks. “Thats it, right?”

”Well, not in those exact words Johnathan didn’t let her get that far.”

”Because Johnathan isn’t nosy or pigheaded enough to stick his nose into anyone else’s business especially when he has no idea what it is to live with a homophobic piece of shit dad who would rather break your nose than listen to what you have to say.” She reaches into her bra, again, this time pulling out a baggie and tosses it to Steve to roll up a few joints. “But, wait, why did you guys start fighting? He invited you over to dinner with his family sans homophobic dad because he’s out of the picture. You should have been tickled freaking pink! You were finally getting what you wanted.”

”Yeah but-“

”But too late, right, like Nancy filled your head with steam and made you go charging on to give Billy an ultimatum or to break up with him, right?”

”She’s not like that Nancy was just looking out for me.”

”Nancy,” Robin climbs out of the bed and takes the baggie to his desk and starts rolling on her own. “Doesn’t like Billy and has this idea that you cant make decisions on your own. You started up with Billy and yeah, I’m not exactly his greatest fan but I never ever told you that you could do better and I never ever tried to tell you how your relationship should go or to make assumptions like Billy using you until graduation or not really liking you the way that he should,” She shoots Steve a glare over her shoulder. “On top of that, you know how his dad is so why the hell would you even push him to come out? Before his step mom threw his dads ass out of the house Billy was getting wrecked on the daily just for breathing.”

”I know.” Steve covers his face with his hand, leans back and slides down the door. “I know...” He sighs. “And now I’ve ruined everything and now Billy doesn’t want to talk to me and Heather told me to back off for a few days and she hates me and is probably convincing Billy thats he’s better off without me.”

”She’s always hated you but she’s not gonna do that.” Joint rolled up Robin lights it and takes a heady drag, eyeballing Steve’s pitiful form with a sad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Billy might actually dump Steve and Robin wouldn’t blame him for it. “If Heather says to give Billy a few days then give him a few days dont do what you do and show up with flowers and a goofy smile. Billy isn’t some girl you forgot to call back, okay, he’s a guy whose gone through the ringer with his old man and now was apparently rejected by his boyfriend.”

Steve peeks up at her through his fingers and squirms.

”You didnt.”

”I did.” He says pitifully. “I really did.”

Robin sits on the floor in front of him, her idiot. 

“Well what did he say?”

”I didnt get that far. Heather shot out of his car and gave me hell about it. Said to leave and to respect his space. Did I make it worse?”

”Well,” She knocks his hands out of his face and passes him her joint. “You didnt make it better.”

”Oh God...he’s gonna dump me.”

”Possibly.”

”What am I gonna do?”

”Not talk to Nancy about it? And if you do, please, do not take her advice.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love Nancy however I feel like with her type of personality she might have very strong opinions that she wont keep to herself and being Steve’s ex and having hurt him the way that she had she appoints herself as his best friend. As you can see Johnathan doesn’t like it much, Steve is a massive pushover and Heather...well there will be a confrontation between Heather and Nancy to come. Keep in mind Nancy is not the actual bad guy, sure she’s being nosy but Billy isn’t exactly a stellar person. She’s only looking out for Steve.  
> BTW Heather? I love Heather and if you’ve read my Fated series and liked Lauren, well, thats the sort of person she’s gonna be like. If you haven’t read it (and will not despite my dumb self promotion) I assure you you’ll like this interpretation of her very much.


End file.
